The Queen, Prince Philip, and the Duchess of Cambridge in Leicester

Yesterday the Queen and Prince Philip kicked off their Jubilee Tour of the UK in Leicester. The royal couple intend to visit all of the major cities between now and July, and they brought Kate with them to help kick things off.

Do you think Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie wish they could have days out like this with their grandparents? Yes, there have been reports that Princess Beatrice is on the hunt for employment but we find it hard to believe that that is her preference over being a working royal, which is what Prince Andrew would like for his daughters. Check out our articles here and here on how the Queen and Princes Charles are trying to streamline the royal family and what impact that will have on Beatrice. It will be interesting to see what she ends up doing.

Anyway, Kate must have been drained after being “on” all day. Of course, Her Majesty and Prince Philip must have been, too, but with Kate it was an especially significant day. All in all, it was a success without any significant misshaps and no major gaffes from Prince Philip.

The Queen looked ready for spring in her pink and black Angela Kelly coat (which had a floral brooch) and hat. Kate wore a ’40’s inspired LK Bennet dress and top that came complete with a peplum, a trend we’re seeing more and more of these days. Kate bought the outfit from the LK Bennet store located in Duke of York Square last December just before her first Christmas at Sandringham. Since there were up to 5(!) outfit changes a day during that visit, she probably wore this there. If the thrifty Queen noticed that she’d seen Kate’s outfit before, she would have given that a thumbs up.

We thought Kate would wear a hat, and this simple black one from John Lock was perfect. It’s not too big – a brimmed hat wouldn’t have looked right – and wasn’t too small like a feathery fascinatory would have been. Nice!

It’s very simililar to the hat that Kate wore to a wedding back in January 2010. We tried this hat on at the John Lewis department store in London a few months ago (it also comes in leopard print!) and loved it. Actually, this one would have worked very well today. Maybe she thought the stick thing was a bit much and went for the new flower one instead…

In the last couple of years in particular, Princess Mary and Princess Marie of Denmark have both had a similar vintage millinery style which may have inspired Kate. They look so classy and chic:

Here’s Princess Mary:

and her sister in law Princess Marie:

Love ’em all. But back to Leicester. Here are some favourite pictures from today’s engagements:

Oodles of patriotic people showed up and waved their flags:

Kate and the Queen chatted through a student fashion show at De Montfort University:

On the way in, Kate said to Lord Waheed Alli, the University Chancellor, “I’ve been to a fashion show before.” He replied, “I know. I saw it on the news this morning.” Of course, they were referring to this St. Andrew’s University show. How things have changed since then:

And we can’t forget Philip. He was looking like he’s made a good recovery from his health scare over Christmas.

On that note, have a lovely weekend!! We have lots of meaty posts coming next week. See you then!

7 replies

So interesting about the Duke of York’s daughters and their royal status!
Do you think the Queen regrets having entitled them “Princesses?”
(Or is it a question of Princess Anne and Prince Edward opting out of the title for their children, and not of Prince Andrew requesting the title for his children?)
Thanks for another excellent post!

Our understanding is that male line children of the monarch are entitled to the style HRH and prince or princess which is why Eugenie and Beatrice are princesses. Their children will not have british royal titles.

That explains why Princess Anne’s children do not have titles. It was decided that her first husband, who was not born with a title, would not take on one like Princess Margaret’s husband Antony Armstrong-Jones had. He had been made the 1st Earl of Snowdon and Viscount Linley so their children would have titles (Lady Sarah and David, Viscount Linley) but no HRH. Prince Edward and the Countess of Wessex decided against their children being styled HRH (even though they are technically entitled to that) as part of the overall plan to streamilne the monarchy. They are Lady Louise and James, Viscount Severn as the daughter and son of an earl and will not be ‘working royals’ and will make their own way like Zara and Peter have done.

I love that you started this post with a picture of The Queen and described what she wore first – after all, it’s her Jubilee. Please keep this up (reporting about the Queen first when it’s a Jubilee visit).

Like the digression about the close-fitting hats too – it’s a style that I like on suits worn during the day.

I believe that children (and their spouses) of the Queen or those in the direct line of succession (in this case, Charles) should do royal duties. Otherwise they should get jobs.

Andrew, as a child of the Queen, and William and Harry as children of Charles should continue to do royal duties. But Beatrice and Eugenie – as they are not children of the Queen nor anyone in the direct line of succession, should get jobs and not do royal duties.

If and when William and Kate have children, any children that Harry subsequently has should be expected to get jobs once they are adults (since they are no longer in the line of direct succession).